48 replies to this topic

[Hasina]

It's quite awesome, especially when you get to play a character and just go crazy with them. One of my characters was a dark elf, or a Drow, who happened to be a Ranger class which allowed me to have a animal companion. I picked a cat size spider which my character then wore like a backpack

Another time, a friend of mine had a Monk class character, later on he picked the prestige class of Drunken Master, whenever he'd fight, my friend would actually get drunk, it was hilarious to say the least.

Edited by Hasina, 02 October 2012 - 11:06 AM.

[BorisIWantToKnow]

Haha, but for me it's impossible to play because there are no GM-s here and no1 even heard about it. Heck, i heard about it like an hour ago!

[Hasina]

Find some of the books at a book store and introduce the concept to your friends. I learned about it my senior year in high school from a friend, since then I've been a huge fan of tabletop RP's.

[Taun]

I've played RPG's since 1975, Original D&D...  Then the next year a new game - Empire of The Petal Throne - came out and I never really went back to D&D...

SInce then I've played (mostly GM'd) a host of RPG's... mostly:

Aftermath! ***
HarnMaster ***
Traveller
Space Opera ***
Mechanoids ***
Boot Hill
Powers And Perils
Pirates and Plunder
Bushido
Call of Cthulhu
Star Wars
Tunnels and Trolls

Empire of the Petal Throne (and it's replacement Adventures on Tekumel)*******

(the games with *** I really recommend)

I even played "Macho Women with Guns" and it's two suppliments "Renagade Nuns on Wheels" and "Bat Winged Bimbos From Hell"  (just for laughs - and yes - these are real games)

Now my friends and I (We've been gaming together since the early 80's) have designed our own RPG and we play that exclusively...

This is all part of my plan to stay young for as long as I can -  it's working..... so far...

Edited by Taun, 02 October 2012 - 12:10 PM.

[Wookietim]

Insanity, on 02 October 2012 - 12:04 AM, said:

Was curious as to whom here currently plays, or has played, RPGs?  I am not referring to the online MMORPGs , which are often just simply hack-n-slash styles, but table-top RPGs, using such things as paper, a pencil, physical dice, and being able to speak directly to the other players in the group face to face.  Even using virtual tabletop software such as Fantasy Grounds counts in my opinion.

Just had a D&D 4E game go into indefinite retirement due to the DM's changing life situations.  We all hope it will return in the future.  Most of us in the group played for close to three years.

I currently run a Call of Cthulhu RPG, some of the same folks from the D&D game.  Most of them just died recently, a blunder on their part.  The setting is in 1925, and they just arrived in Cairo, Egypt following a clue concerning the murder of a friend.  No one speaks or understand Arabic, so should be interesting.

I've been hoping to find some people here in Seattle to play "Call of Cthulhu" with but the closest group seems to be a pretty big drive outside the city on the other side of the sound... Was thinking about setting up a meetup.com group for it but it seems kind expensive to do that just to find out that nobody responds.

[Insanity]

BorisIWantToKnow, on 02 October 2012 - 09:48 AM, said:

W8 w8, so you re-create the settings in the books, games etsc?
And how do you play this?
In real life?
I'm not trolling, it's just i've never come across something like this...

It's very much like being part of an ongoing story.  The Dungeon Master, Game Master, or whomever by whichever title, narrates the story and events.  You and other players take the role of various characters, and there are other characters whom the DM dictates.  The story progresses is influenced by the actions you and other players take, and by the events narrated by the DM.  It's not so much a game to "win" at, as much as it's a toy, in the sense you just keep playing it.

The rules are there to say how certain things are resolved, from combat, to skills or magic.  Many systems, while being of a similar setting, be it fantasy sword and sorcery, sci-fi, modern or historical, will differ on the rules.  That being said, the rules don't make the game, the players and the Game Master do.  I have never subscribed to the idea that one game system is any better then another, its about who you play with that makes the game great.

[DieChecker]

Taun, on 02 October 2012 - 12:05 PM, said:

SInce then I've played (mostly GM'd) a host of RPG's... mostly:

....
Traveller
....
Boot Hill
....
Call of Cthulhu
Star Wars

Loved the original Boot Hill, and Traveller. *** was always too deadly for us to do long term games.

I GMed a Star Wars game for years, but you might be talking about the West End Games version, which was also very cool.

Quote

This is all part of my plan to stay young for as long as I can -  it's working..... so far...

What I think is cool is that several of my 40+ year old friends now have kids who are getting old enough to game with us and it puts a new feel to the game when the youngsters have such enthusiasm and energy.

Insanity, on 02 October 2012 - 10:30 PM, said:

It's very much like being part of an ongoing story.  

My friend calls it Cooperative Storytelling (with dice).

[Taun]

A feature I put into the game my friends and I created was "Plot Points"... A character gets three when first created, and can use them to change an outcome...  For example:

The character is attempting to leap across a chasm (over lava naturally ), but fails the die roll hideously dooming them to a long fall and a quick barbeque...  Using a Plot Point the player can "cinematically" describe how the character at the last moment catches a tree root (or some such) and manages to pull themself up to safety...

I have found that it really enhances the storyline when the players have limited GM type influence....

[Grey14]

I have played RPG's for a good portion of my life, haven't played for the last few years as I have not had the opprtunity. However do not let the fact that you may not live near other players hold you back if you really want to play. We live in an online world where you do not have to actually be face to face to interact with other gamers. There are many tools out there were you could set up online gaming session with relative ease. With a 30 second google search I found a website that lays out all sorts of tools for setting up online RPG play.

http://rpgvirtualtabletop.wikidot.com/

This combined with the free program Ventrilo (online voice chat). You could play with anyone in the world. So if you cannot find local players go online and find some people that would be able to play at the times you can play. Heck you may be able to find some people on here even

[Hasina]

Taun, on 03 October 2012 - 12:22 PM, said:

A feature I put into the game my friends and I created was "Plot Points"... A character gets three when first created, and can use them to change an outcome...  For example:

The character is attempting to leap across a chasm (over lava naturally ), but fails the die roll hideously dooming them to a long fall and a quick barbeque...  Using a Plot Point the player can "cinematically" describe how the character at the last moment catches a tree root (or some such) and manages to pull themself up to safety...

I have found that it really enhances the storyline when the players have limited GM type influence....

Holy guacamole, I love that idea! Usually I just find a way to work around a terrible roll (unless it's AFMBE where the theme is your survive as long as you can in a zombie infested world). I'll have to implement this the next time I DM or suggest it to my friends who are. Brilliant!

[Taun]

Hasina, on 03 October 2012 - 02:24 PM, said:

Holy guacamole, I love that idea! Usually I just find a way to work around a terrible roll (unless it's AFMBE where the theme is your survive as long as you can in a zombie infested world). I'll have to implement this the next time I DM or suggest it to my friends who are. Brilliant!

We have also added that at the end of an adventure - new plot points can be awarded as 'prizes' for excellent role play (but they can never have more than 3 at a time)...  My players LOVE Plot Points....

I also let them use them to steer the plot towards their goals as well (within reason)... sometimes this results in rather interesting plot twists and sub-plots when two or more players get into "Plot line wars" - editing each others additions to the story line...  Real fun!

edit to add: But the GM has to keep a firm hand on the 'silliness' factor, and also keeping the main plot thread intact...

Edited by Taun, 03 October 2012 - 02:36 PM.

[Taun]

Grey14, on 03 October 2012 - 01:04 PM, said:

I have played RPG's for a good portion of my life, haven't played for the last few years as I have not had the opprtunity. However do not let the fact that you may not live near other players hold you back if you really want to play. We live in an online world where you do not have to actually be face to face to interact with other gamers. There are many tools out there were you could set up online gaming session with relative ease. With a 30 second google search I found a website that lays out all sorts of tools for setting up online RPG play.

http://rpgvirtualtabletop.wikidot.com/

This combined with the free program Ventrilo (online voice chat). You could play with anyone in the world. So if you cannot find local players go online and find some people that would be able to play at the times you can play. Heck you may be able to find some people on here even

That looks interesting Grey... Thanks for posting...

[Insanity]

I have been using Fantasy Grounds II for a few years.  www.fantasygrounds.com
Has a chat window built in, virtual dice, there are rulesets for several games available, and if you are savvy with xml and lua, you can create your own.

I've been looking at using roll20.net at some point in the future, bit simpler, but really all you need I think.

[HawkLord]

I am currently playing D&D4E with a group of friends and family. Our GM happens to be in England and we are all here in Australia so we have to hook the laptop up to the tv. He can see us thru the webcam but all we can see of him is the game map he controls, he uses MasterPlan. Its a great way to play. Also we sometimes play a little Call of Cthulu. We would use MapTool but we keep getting connection problems with it.
One of the things we like to use in D&D is the fumble rule. Its when you roll a 1 on attack roll, an example would be with the archer, the Gm would say "Your grip on the bow sudenly slips causing it to fly back and hit  you in the face."  He could then give some kind of penalty for the archers next attack roll. It can be damned funny at times.

[Insanity]

Our D&D DM used the fumbles and criticals tables, and more often then not, they worked to our benefit.

Our group knew how each other of us worked fairly well, ironically my dwarf's best friend was the half-orc.  The rogue had to adjust a bit as his first session with the group, he left the room where the rest of us were fighting, went down another corridor, hoping to get behind the rest somehow as he saw another door behind them.  He opened the door to the new room and was confronted with about half a dozen hobgoblins sitting around a table enjoying a meal.  Of course he lead all back to us.  From then on, doors were his to deal with.